The Chess Marathons of Izmail
If you are looking for a player who treats chess like a marathon, Izmail is your hero. The username may be short, but the game history is enormous. More than 38,000 analyzed games sit behind this account, and nearly all of them are blitz battles with the clock breathing down both players' necks. Izmail has climbed to a blitz peak of 2416 (2026-03-29) and has never been afraid to fall back down and climb again.
His career arc is a bumpy ride, as shown in
. He started around 1510 in 2011, wandered through the 1700s and 1800s, reached the 2200s in 2021, and has touched the 2400s in 2026. Along the way he has produced one of the longest sustained blitz workloads imaginable.A Repertoire Built on e4
Izmail's first move is predictable in the best way. He plays 1.e4 with a devotion that borders on ritual, and he expects his opponents to deal with it. As Black he has a soft spot for Alekhine Defense, with 6,667 blitz games in that opening. That is the kind of sample size that would make a database blush. He also enjoys Scandinavian Defense and French Defense, switching between solid and sharp setups depending on mood.
As White, his favorite tricks include Bird Opening setups and the French Defense. He seems happiest when the position is unbalanced and the pieces are still fighting deep into the endgame. His endgame frequency sits near 75%, which is impressive for a player who also has a 15% early resignation rate. Izmal simply knows when to fight and when to pack it in.
Rivals, Old Friends, and 186 Games
No rival looms larger than Ariel Crawford. They have faced each other 186 times in blitz, a remarkable number of rematches. Acrawford28 holds the upper hand, but Izmail keeps coming back, and that persistence says a lot. Against adam-nowacki, another regular, Izmail actually has the better record in 74 meetings. He also crossed swords with Radmila Kovacevic 99 times, a rivalry that clearly never got boring.
The numbers against the field are also interesting. He has won 13 games in a row at his best and lost 16 in a row at his worst, a rollercoaster that anyone who plays online blitz will recognize.
Bullet, Comebacks, and Early Mornings
Even though the blitz board is his main battlefield, Izmail lists Bullet as his preferred time control. His bullet sample is small, but 22 wins against 7 losses is a tasty ratio, and all seven of his bullet games in the Alekhine Defense ended in victory. Some players freeze in bullet, but Izmail seems to enjoy the chaos.
He has a comeback rate of 87%, meaning that losing a piece does not necessarily mean losing the game. He loses by a one-sided margin only about 24% of the time. His best winning hours are around 06:00, so if you meet him in the early morning, be prepared for a tough opponent. When he delivers the first check, he wins around half the time, and when he is checked first that number drops to 35%, so he values the initiative like a precious gem.
The Verdict
Izmail is a lifelong chess enthusiast who would rather play another blitz game than go to bed. He has a clear opening identity, a fierce attachment to 1.e4, and enough games against Ariel Crawford to fill a small book. He is not a perfect player, but he is an endlessly active one, and in the online chess world that is its own kind of royalty.